A new interactive map from the American Trauma Society shows the availability of medical care across the country.
You can pick a location and discover whether it falls within a ‘safe’ zone – where you are within 45 minutes to an hour – either by ambulance or helicopter – from a location where you can receive advanced trauma care.
Here’s a cross-country view of the country’s 60-minute access:
The purple shaded areas are the ‘safe’ zones, but the white areas lack rapid access to timely, life-saving care for the most serious injuries. While there is lots of purple blotches clustered in the northern and eastern regions, there are large swaths of white patches in the middle of the country and the western region.
Unfortunately, many of those areas are also popular tourist spots like Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon. The problem areas are not isolated to the West either; many open areas lie in popular East Coast areas like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, or farther south at Myrtle Beach and Key West.
Once again, this information underscores the need for adequate medical evacuation coverage – even on trips within the U.S. Check out our recent post on How much evacuation coverage do you need? for more information.
